


Cage

by owlmoose



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Backstory, Flash Fic, Gen, Prompt Fic, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2017-12-13 06:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ffamran takes the first step toward becoming Balthier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for auronlu, for the prompt "Balthier: Strikhedonia (the pleasure of being able to say 'to hell with it')". Pre-game, obviously.

Before anything else — before liberating the Strahl, before the name change, before penning half a dozen letters addressed to Cid and discarding them all, before the decision to leave had even been properly made — Ffamran Bunansa got rid of his helm.

He stood on the roof of Draklor Labs, all he had learned while snooping in his father’s office pounding at his mind: Cid’s distant raving, the damning research notes, the shards of manufacted nethicite on the desk. Only hints, but the portents were dark, ominous clouds gathered in the ceiling of the laboratory. Still locked in the hateful black armor, he pulled off his helm and shook his head, letting the wind rip through his sweat-drenched hair. He held the helm at arms length and looked the black metal face in the eye; the empty eye sockets stared back, as devoid of answers as any puppet, any pawn. 

_No more._ He opened his hand and let the helm fall, watched as it plummeted to the ground, not looking away even as it became a tiny speck, imagining he could hear the splash as it landed in the river below. And then he turned away, facing into the wind and already feeling lighter for having shed the scrap of armor, while the escape plan took shape in his mind


End file.
